Child care workers in Alabama and around the country are reporting more burnout and economic hardship, according to results from a new survey by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

More than 10,000 early childhood educators from all states and settings spoke out about a variety of their concerns and thoughts. According to the organization, the results from the survey illustrate how insufficient public investment in our early childhood education burdens educators across all settings. Those shared burdens threaten to further reduce supply of quality child care and early learning programs.

Some reflections from survey respondents in Alabama included:

• “Too much stress. Inadequate workforce pool.” – Director/Administrator
• “I am going to retire 5 years early because of the stress level in the classroom.” – Early Childhood Educator
• “We no longer offer 3-year old care due to staffing issues” – Director/Administrator

According to a recent report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, there has long been a shortage of accessible and affordable child care centers in the United States. The pandemic magnified this issue when 16,000 child care centers were forced to close their doors, and many providers had to operate at limited capacity. Although pandemic restrictions have lifted, a shortage of affordable and accessible child care remains.

Among the Alabama respondents in the early childhood workforce survey, 51% say they are more burned out now and 27% say their economic situation has worsened.

According to NAEYC, around the country child care program costs are rising, staff burnout and turnover is increasing, and absent sufficient public support, families are having to pay more than they can afford for the child care they need.

This online survey, created and conducted by The National Association for the Education of Young Children using SurveyMonkey, represents the responses of a non-randomized sample of 10,066 individuals working in early childhood education settings who completed the survey in English or Spanish in January 2025.

Breonna Atkins is a senior at Carver High School in Birmingham and a reporting intern at AL.com through the Birmingham Promise program.